Christopher Clark's 'A Scandal in Königsberg' Unpacks a 19th-Century Sex Scandal

Christopher Clark, Regius Professor of History at Cambridge, has authored 'A Scandal in Königsberg' (Penguin Press), a detailed examination of a scandal that erupted in the 1830s in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). The book explores the case of Johann Wilhelm Ebel, a cleric who returned to the city in 1810 and became a charismatic preacher, attracting devoted followers, many of them women, who were called Ebelians. Ebel's teachings, influenced by theosophist Johann Heinrich Schönherr, blended rationalism with mystical ideas about primordial forces, which were interpreted erotically. Accusations of sexual misconduct were spread by Count Finckenstein, leading to a church disciplinary inquiry and criminal proceedings. Ebel and fellow clergyman Heinrich Diestel were prosecuted, with testimony from a discredited physician, Ludwig Wilhelm Sachs, who claimed the group engaged in sexual rituals. Ebel was found guilty of founding an 'illegal sect' and dismissed from his post, though an appeal in 1842 reduced the offense and acquitted him of sect founding. The scandal prefigured modern moral panics, drawing parallels to the McMartin preschool case, Salem witch trials, and Oscar Wilde's prosecution. Clark also discusses the philosophical debate between Kantian absolutism and Benjamin Constant's defense of privacy, which remains relevant today. The book highlights how such inquisitions often cause more harm than the alleged offenses, and how the media fuels public hysteria.